16 Jun 2006: Cross Country to Martha's Vineyard

After a month of incessant rain, there finally came a clear afternoon to get in some flying. Well, in point of fact it was actually pretty hazy, but still above VFR minimums so I was off to the coast. I was flying the 172SP-G1000 glass cockpit to complete my checkout training. Boy, was it hot! the taxiway was crowded with other GA aircraft with wondows and doors open, various appendages hanging out trying to stay cool. After a wait, the tower cleared us for takeoff.
The plane climbed at about 500 fpm maximum rate in tthe warm haze as I swung around to a southeasterly course to cross over Norwood airport. 2800 feet wedged us nicely between thetop of Norwood's class delta airspace limit at 2,500 feet and the overlying class bravo airspace of Boston at 3,000 feet. After crossing from beneath the shelf near Mansfield, I climbed up to 5,500 to cross Buzzards Bay. After picking up the ATIS, I tried to contact KMVY tower but was told to contact them in a couple of minues. Atrting a descent over Wood's Hole, the tower finally asked for us to stay clear of their delta airspace due to congestion. Ahhhhhh......the Vineyard on a summer's Friday afternoon!

After a brief tour of the west part of the island, we were finally cleared for landing which was a tad high on the approach. I used a slip to get the altitude bled off and landed. On the tarmac was my old flight instructor who recently joined commercial operation. He was just boarding his Aerostar for a flight to East Hampton, Long Island.
After a Coke, it was back to a delay-free departure and an uneventful ride back to Bedford.